MULTIPLE MULTIMODAL MENTORS - DELIVERING COMPUTER-BASED INSTRUCTION VIA SPECIALIZED ANTHROPOMORPHIC ADVISERS

We describe the Smalltalk Gurus, components of the MoleHill intelligen t tutoring system for Smalltalk programming. The Gurus offer help on p lans for achieving goals in the Smalltalk environment, as well as reme diation for students' incorrect and less-than-optimal plans. The Gurus ' assistance is provided via the multimodal media of animation and voi ce-over audio. MoleHill employs multiple Gurus to deliver advice and i nstruction concerning disparate information domains, thus facilitating learners' cognitive organization and assimilation of new knowledge an d information. We have labelled the approach instantiated by the Small talk Gurus the guru instructional model, one which is generally applic able to computer-based advisory systems.